Accessible Walkability~The Fabric of Community

As part of Mayor Kahn’s plan to increase daily walking trips in London from 6 million to 7 million by 2041, the City of London is looking at how to make walking safer, comfortable and more convenient for walkers. While adjusting signals to give pedestrian more “green man” time at signalized intersections, staff will also…

Walk Metro Vancouver has just returned from a week in Switzerland driving across the country. There is a major difference in driving in Switzerland~speed cameras are everywhere~on local streets, at the entrances to small towns, and on every major highway. The fines for speeding are steep~drive 6 to 10 km/h over the speed…

Walk Metro Vacouver has been pondering why this city does not have public washrooms associated with public transit, biking and walking routes. There is a need for washrooms that are universally accessible, and some writers have described this need as a basic human right. Even the Downtown Vancouver Business Association published a map of public toilets saying …

There is an exhibition currently touring from the Smithsonian titled “Patios, Pools and the Invention of the Backyard”. Jak King has been circulating a write-up by the Smithsonian insider which not only describes how North American culture turned from a front porch to a “back yard” life, but also points out that this love of lawn and…

Image Sandy James If you think the car is king in Metro Vancouver and in Canada generally, you need to have a visit to Australia where both the law and the pedestrian crossing times solidly put the pedestrian as a second class citizen to vehicular traffic. The Guardian disclosed that “Pedestrians across Australia are pressing the…